Sacred Way

Hiera Hodos ( ancient Greek Ἱερὰ Ὁδός in Modern Greek, Iera Odos Ιερά Οδός, German: " Sacred Way " ) was the ancient road from Athens to Eleusis. The Sacred Way was so named because it was on the route of the annual procession of the Mysteries of Eleusis.

At regular intervals, were at the 20.5 km long Sacred Way Hermes stelae. The road began at the Twelve Gods Altar on the northwest corner of the Agora and passed the ancient city walls by the two square towers lined Sacred Gate ( Ἱερὰ Πυλή ). Then crossed the Kerameikos and the local cemetery. At the place Gephyra ( Gephyreis ), where the " Sacred Way " on a bridge crossed the Kephisos, travelers should have been vulgar insulted and ridiculed.

In the present monastery of Daphni, the road crossed the Aigaleos mountains on a low pass. It led to the entrance of the Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis.

Today essentially the history of the ancient Sacred Way following the main road is called the center of Athens Iera Odos by Egaleo and Chaidari.

Already in 1891 /92 studied the hill Prophitis Iliad in Chaidari to the sanctuary of Aphrodite by Dimitrios Kampouroglou a great piece of road. From 1932 to 1939 excavations were carried out under Konstantinos Kourouniotis and Ioannis Travlos. Excavations at the Sacred Way in the realm of the sacred gate were carried out from 2002 to 2005 by the German Archaeological Institute in Athens. The occasion of the extension of the Athens metro network bared before the 2004 Olympic Games Parts of the Sacred Way are accessible to the public metro station Egaleo.

Swell

• Pausanias, Description of Greece 1, 36, 3-38, 6; 1, 37, 5